The Man from Not Glad
Early in my college career it occurred to that free high school courses were a bargain. Since some of the entry-level college courses I needed were equivalent to high school, I swallowed what very little pride I still had and obtained permission to take a course with the grade eleven and twelve students for free.
I was twenty-one years old. High school was uncomfortable enough the first time around, but circumstances soon made this experiment a special achievement in awkwardness.
My car had broken down and I could ill-afford the bus, let along repairs, so that chilly winter semester I committed myself to the twenty minute bike ride to the high school in North Surrey each Wednesday and Friday morning.
I arrived early for my first day, met the teacher and was graciously introduced to the class. Some of the other students giggled a little, but I ignored them. Dignity is found in perseverance, albeit not before passing through stations of humiliation. Then it snowed. On a Tuesday night in January we got six inches of the heavy, slushy variety. I took advantage of a few items at hand to improvise a ride-to-school-in-the-snow-kit. I wound electrical wire around the wheels for grip, easy enough (and actually very functional), then I fashioned a snowsuit out of white hockey tape and a few large black garbage bags. It worked. And it was breathtakingly hideous.
I gave myself an extra few minutes for the slow ride to school and needed all of it. This meant that I arrived, fully suited in black plastic with contrasting white hockey tape just before class began. I was the Man from Not Glad. I stripped off my garbage bag snowsuit in front of dozens of suburban youth as they filed past me near the science wing outside the school. This time they didn’t giggle. They just gawked, bewildered, even a little sad.
I couldn’t bring myself to go back for the next day of school, or the one following. I later picked up the full tab for the course at college.
Some memories of student life amuse and evoke feelings of charm. Others are like bird droppings on a car rear window – looking back we’d just like to wash them off.
We have a word for the satisfaction received from consuming something desirable – utility. Some economists have even performed studies measuring this satisfaction in imaginary units called “utils.” In a free market economy the cost associated with the purchase of these units of contentment is assumed to be generally in balance with what people are willing to pay.
Prince George is home to a good number of families who have not been changed by their hard-earned wealth. They came here with barely enough to feed themselves then scrimped and saved, took risks and grew their opportunities into something truly substantial by any measure. Along the way they found a certain utility in spending wisely.
Thus, when wealth is born of honest toil, it is seldom frittered away. Not because the wealthy couldn’t afford to spend it foolishly, but because the thought of doing so brings them no satisfaction whatsoever. They buy satisfaction with the currency of patience.
They don’t need so many lavish things because they already own one of the truly great treasures of life, one which can’t be given, only gotten, and can’t be purchased with money. This fulfillment is only available by looking back over the work of ones own hands and saying: “I did that!
This idea, that principals and patience are more valuable than cur- rency and consumption, lends itself to successful saving and investing. These are long term concepts
• Long Term Fact: Most people will live for 30 years or so after they retire, so the long term view is the only realistic approach to investing.
• Long Term Fact: Over a span of 30 years at a long term average inflation rate of three per cent, your purchasing power will shrink by about about 2.4 times. Money is only useful for buying things, so this loss of purchasing power is a guaranteed financial loss.
• Short Term Fact: Fear has driven the bond market to historic highs and thus bond yields (and interest rates) to historic lows.
• Long Term Fact: It is reasonable to achieve 4-5 per cent dividends by investing in very successful companies.
Equities usually need to play a role in long term investing. The math is easy. The staying focused on long term principals is the challenge.
Mark Ryan is an advisor with RBC Wealth Management, Dominion Securities, and can be reached at mark. ryan@rbc.com.